Publications

Kumbha Mela

Editors of Hinduism Today

The tens of millions of hindus who came to the Kumbha
Mela at Haridwar this year were nearly all of modest means.
After days of travel, many spent a mere 24 hours in the holy
city at the gateway to the Himalayas. They chanted Jai Ganga
MaHail Mother Gangatook their sacred bath in the frigid
river, collected a pot of holy Ganga water and then headed home.
One typical pilgrim, an illiterate woman, traveled with her family
by crowded bus from West Bengal, slept in the open and ate at
the free feeding tents. We are poor, but we have enough. I asked
God not for money but for peace and salvationso easily did this
humble villager capture the essence of the worlds greatest act of
pilgrimage, the Kumbha Mela